Yesterday Sony BMG agreed to halt pay-for-play practices after an investigation by Attorney General Eliot Spitzer revealed that airplay of tunes by Jessica Simpson and J. Lo were “determined by undisclosed payoffs to radio stations and their employees,” not artisitic merit and popularity. Spitzer’s press release cites some specific examples that are fun to read … ’cause it’s always fun reading other people’s e-mail!

In discussing a bribe given to a radio programmer in Buffalo, one promotion executive at SONY BMG’s Epic Records wrote to a colleague at Epic:

“Two weeks ago, it cost us over 4000.00 to get Franz [Ferdinand] on WKSE. That is what the four trips to Miami and hotel cost … At the end of the day, [David] Universal added GC [Good Charlotte] and Gretchen Wilson and hit Alex up for another grand and they settled for $750.00. So almost $5000.00 in two weeks for overnight airplay. He told me that Tommy really wanted him to do it so he cut the deal.”

Another Epic employee who was trying to promote the group Audioslave to a Clear Channel programmer asked in an email:

“WHAT DO I HAVE TO DO TO GET AUDIOSLAVE ON WKSS THIS WEEK?!!? Whatever you can dream up, I can make it happen.”

A promotion employee unhappy with the times assigned for spins of the song “I Drove All Night” by Celine Dion wrote this internal email:

“OK, HERE IT IS IN BLACK AND WHITE AND IT’S SERIOUS: IF A RADIO STATION GOT A FLYAWAY TO A CELINE [DION] SHOW IN LAS VEGAS FOR THE ADD, AND THEY’RE PLAYING THE SONG ALL IN OVERNIGHTS, THEY ARE NOT GETTING THE FLYAWAY. PLEASE FIX THE OVERNIGHT ROTATIONS IMMEDIATELY.”

I love how that last memo was prefaced with “OK, HERE IT IS IN BLACK AND WHITE AND IT’S SERIOUS.” If Celine Dion ever gets a mention on this blog again, that’s how it’s gonna start.